Apple iPod Mini (6GB, silver)

Pros: Touch wheel, AAC song format

Cons: No user def eq, no radio, battery, not ready for "to go" services

Summary: I bought an iPod mini and a Creative Zen Micro to compare. The iPod isn't a bad little player and the only reason I wanted it was because of the superior AAC song format... but that wasn't enough for me to keep it. I also wanted a user definable eq setting and didn't care for any of the iPod's presets, not available. Creative Zen's sound quality is rich and full and it has user definable eq. The iPod was a bit dry and cold sounding. iPod's wheel is cool, but Zen's touch pad is almost as good and Zen offers a more advanced user interface with popup menus and clearly defined pad areas to access them. I like the Zen's recording and FM radio feature's which are not on the iPod. The Zen Micro came with extra accessories and above average ear buds. The iPod came with a cable and some horrible sounding ears buds.

But when I discovered Yahoo Unlimited for $5/mo. and unlimited downloads that work with Zen Micro, that was it, I took the iPod back.

The iPod will no doubt out-sell all the other players, but it isn't the best player feature or performace-wise.